Wren's Bird Call of The Week came to mind right after I fed the birds and squirrels this morning. As I watched from my balcony the feeding frenzy that always ensues after I scatter the sunflower seeds and peanuts under the willow tree, I heard the familiar cry of the blue jays. "Thief! Thief! Thief!" they accusingly scold at the other critters who are just minding their own breakfast business. Now if you know anything about blue jay behavior, it is they who are the thieves-they who swoop down and snatch up as many seeds as their craw can handle and then follow the squirrels to see where they hide their peanuts for later raiding party forays.

I began to wonder just why the cries of "Thief" had so caught my attention this particular morning. And then I realized that the blue jays have their human counterparts in the religious realms and I had just read one or two of those sites where they have built an artificial habitat. Who are these human blue jays? They are those extremist and (unfortunately for a great religion) usually Christian zealots who dedicate themselves to spreading falsehoods about Pagans. They do more than tsk tsk at Pagan beliefs. They call us demons, murderers and every kind of evil being. Why? Let's not mince words like worms here. They say these things because these people are liars.

There are no other religious people that are subjected to such virulent and outright slander as Pagans are. There are people who are not content to simply say that they do not understand or agree with Pagan beliefs like they seem to be content to do with other religions. Nope, from the baby sacrifice stories to the unholy demonic alliance conspiracies, Pagans are convicted by spectral evidence alone. The word of someone who simply says that he or she was once "in the Craft" or a "High Priest of the No-One-In-The-Pagan-Community-Has-Ever-Heard-of-You Coven" and who then goes on and on (maybe even writes a book) about the horrible crimes that they saw Pagans involved in and -before they saw the light, of course- participated in themselves are accepted as true with no real evidence at all. Ever notice that these liar-guys-and-gals are never low on the hierarchical totem pole themselves in these lurid stories? That should tell you something about their need to be in the spotlight... and isn't, Mr. Pacino, vanity still a sin? Just like lying?

These 'thieves' steal the truth. But more than that, they steal love, tolerance and compassion from the hearts of other Christians. They turn those who drink up these stories into paranoid 'lovers of lies' and the more sensational the lie, the more these listeners perk up their ears "the better to hear you with, my dear". They become that which they fear the most. Their own doctrine declares that those who love lies more than the truth shall have their share of some fiery nasty pit. Liars follow that guy in the red pajamas. Oops! How embarrassing for them, I'm sure! Not such a 'little white lie' after all, eh guys?

So again this year when we see the anti-Halloween letters in the papers -which by the way is NOT our Holiday, but just another ancient act of blue jay Christian thievery!- let us remind them that the truth about Pagan beliefs is out there. No evidence of any of these lurid anti-Pagan stories being true exists because these things just never happened, these people were never the "High Priest' of anything except their own crazed need for attention and Pagans are simply not going to cringe over this crap any more. Not true. Never happened. End of story.

In fact, the next time that these guys hear a blue jay call, "Thief! Thief! Thief!" maybe they should pay close attention. I think Someone up there is trying to tell them something.

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